Putin had a vast arsenal of tanks left over from the Soviet era that he planned to leverage in an invasion of Ukraine.
However, that plan has not exactly worked out, and thousands of Russian tanks have been destroyed.
And in what indeed makes the Russian president quite upset, we can watch many of those strikes occur right on social media.
Tank Terminated: Putin Lost Another Tank in Ukraine
A video clip shared on Telegram in recent days shows how Ukraine’s famed “Omega” unit destroyed a Russian T-80BVM tank using loitering munitions in Donetsk Oblast.
The intense footage shows the strike from multiple angles, including from the perspective of the loitering munition used to take out the vehicle.
Flying in on the T-80BVM
The first part of the video shows footage recorded from onboard the loitering munition.
The tank can be seen speeding along a rural road attempting to escape the munition. The tank can’t outrun the drone, and the footage continues until it is just feet away from striking the tank.
As the munition strikes the tank the video feed cuts out. The clip then shows the chase from the perspective of a nearby rotary-blade UAV. As the tank speeds along the dirt road, it creates clouds of white dust. Eventually, however, the tank can’t outrun the loitering munition and erupts into flames.
After the strike, huge plumes of smoke rise out of the hull of the vehicle, changing in color and growing more intense as time passes. The strike appears to completely disable the vehicle and likely killed the operators, who are not seen escaping in the video. The strike may also have caused ammunition stored inside the tank to ignite.
“In Staromaiorske, #Donetsk Oblast, the Ukrainian “Omega” unit destroyed a Russian T-80BVM tank using FPV loitering munitions, with the ammunition inside eventually catching fire,” Ukraine Weapons Tracker writes.
The video also ends with a call to action for people to make financial donations to Ukraine to support the war effort.
What Is the Omega Unit?
The Omega group is a part of the Ukrainian National Guard. The special forces unit was originally established to carry out bodyguard and counterterrorism missions, however, the group also has extensive experience in combat environments. The Omega unit has been responsible for a wide range of attacks against Russian units throughout the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with videos from all over the country showing dramatic scenes of Russian tanks and other military vehicles taken out by artillery strikes, loitering munition strikes, and more.
Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Omega unit was deployed in 2014 to fight against pro-Russian separatists in Mariupol.
Also prior to the Russian invasion, the Omega unit largely avoided the public spotlight. However, with the rise of social media – and the widespread use of social media by Ukrainian and Russian forces over the last year – the world has seen more of the Omega unit than ever before.
#Ukraine: In Staromaiorske, #Donetsk Oblast, the Ukrainian “Omega” unit destroyed a Russian T-80BVM tank using FPV loitering munitions, with the ammunition inside eventually catching fire. pic.twitter.com/dbqRgf0Cfq
— ???????? Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 12, 2023
Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive’s Breaking News Editor. He is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
